Dichroic Reflections

what I did in camp

Rowing camp was good. The coach explained things nicely, in biomechanical sort of terms so everything made sense to me and I understood why she was telling us to do what she was telling us to do. She had some things to tell us that I'd never heard before, or possibly had heard but hadn't understood in those terms, and was able to find lots of problems with my stroke.

This is a Good Thing: my stroke is fairly smooth and my form is reasonably good, but no rower is perfect. It's been very frustrating on many occasions to have a coach tell me "Oh, you're form is great, you just need a little more power" or whatever. I know there are things I need to improve, and moreover I can fix form issues, whereas I'm not likely to grow a foot and sprout large muscles. Patty filmed us and then went through the video frame by frame to find the smallest technique issues, including some she swears will yield us big dividends in speed. Also, she promises that if I fix a few things (hand position, earlier catch, more upright body, more compression) in addition to the rigging changes we made that will allow a higher stroke rate, I can be a lot faster despite my size, without having to do the sort of training that's not compatible with having an actual job and an actual life. No one has ever told me that before, ever ever ever.

I'm not sure I'd want to work with her fulltime; she has a belief in the inalienable rightness of coaches that I don't share, having spent too much time working with bad ones. (On the drive home I came up with my definition of a Bad Coach: anyone who can't spot problems with my stroke; anyone who tells their rowers to do different and conflicting things on different days; anyone who tells their rowers to use a style that doesn't make good biomechanical sense; anyone who, even if they know how to do things right, is unable to communicate it to rowers.) People who like being in unquestioned authority tend not to like working with me. I usually have a lot of questions and though I try to ask them in a respectful way, very authoritative coaches / teachers tend to get a little upset. Patty handled my questions well; her answers made sense and if she just wanted us (it wasn't only me!) to shut up for a bit she had no comunctions about saying so.

So yeah, I'm a little pumped up about rowing right now. Unfortunately the lake is still closed and will be until this weekend. And I think I'll still stay semi-retired until I finish my IFR, just because of finite discretionary time, but I'm definitely feeling the urge to get out on the water and play with some of my new technique.

The four of us (me, Rudder, She-Hulk, and our friend S) stayed in a comfortable condo right on Mission Bay, and there was a lot of laughing and talking involved. The best part was when we had everyone in the camp over Saturday night for a spaghetti dinner (planned and catered by She-Hulk). There was garlic involved. There were beer and wine and scandalous stories from two continents and from many regattas. There was gossip exchanged about mutual acquaintances. There were rowing tips passed on. (And J, maybe even some right-place-right-time-right-with-the-world tingles.)

I like Mission Bay - the beach and the water and the glorious weather and all the classic SoCal sights - surfers and seals, sailboats, shorts and spaghetti straps in January and the odd stuff you wouldn't see anywhere else, like the ferocious game of water polo we saw being played in kayaks. Along Mission Bay drive there are little groceries and nightclubs, sops where you can buy wetsuits and longboards, and one of the highest densities of tattoo parlors I've seen. There are prime people-watching opportunities on its sidewalk. From our condo living room with its big window facing the bay we should watch joggers and cyclists and walkers along the path fronting the bay. What it's lacking is the acrid, tawdry aste I always seem to get in at least some parts of LA. I could definitely live in San Diego.

Oh, and also, I proved that it is in fact possible to do a headstand in a rowing shell. I'll see if I can get that picture scanned in.....

Posted by dichroic at January 18, 2005 02:11 PM